“You think you understand the game that’s being played?” he asked in a low voice. “You know nothing of betrayal, pain, or real suffering. You can’t fathom what’s going on. You say you hate me, but you don’t know me. Every single thing I do has a reason. Everything. You? You’re a cyclone recklessly acting on emotion and impulse. You’re only alive now because of the generosity of others and your Phaetyn powers, but if you continue down this path, you and everyone you care about will be—” He froze and pursed his lips. Then, raising his voice, he said, “You’re the worst kind of fool. Tako mi je ?ao.”
“I get it, al’right,” I screamed. More and more, every minute, every second, my hate grew. I hated that he was right, and I hated myself for my stupid, selfish actions. I wanted to cry for the hurt I’d caused Mum, Ty, and most likely Tyr, Arnik, and Dyter. I’d been a fool, but I was done. I steeled my heart and swallowed my emotions. They would do me no good here. “Please leave so I can get dressed.”
I would do everything the king told me, everything. I would make him think I was the most compliant prisoner ever. I wouldn’t ask for anything more than what they gave, and I wouldn’t put anyone I loved at risk. I would be patient until the moment was perfect. Then, I’d make sure they all paid.
When I stepped out of the washroom in my fresh clothes, Irrik was barking orders at two guards in the room.
“I said to put it on the table there,” he snapped, pointing at the short table by the couch. “Then you can leave.” The other guard stood, waiting. Irrik held a scroll of paper in his hands, reading. The first man set a large silver tray down and went to the door where he waited for the other guard.
Irrik snorted, a sound I now recognized as his favorite expression of disgust, and crumpled the paper into a ball. “You may tell King Irdelron I have received his message. I’ll only dispose of those I perceive as immediate threats to her life. You’re dismissed.”
The guards eyed the Drae warily, but as they turned to the door, I caught one sneering at me. Gritting my teeth, I tilted my chin up and walked toward the couch where dinner waited. My legs were weak from not eating, and my heart pounded from the exertion of the day. I was determined to eat everything on that tray. Even if I threw it all up later. But my mind wasn’t as strong as my body, and four bites into the rich meal, my head swam and my vision blurred.
“I think they poisoned me,” I slurred, sliding sideways on the couch. “In the food. I’m dying.”
I closed my eyes as my stomach roiled.
I laid my head on the soft cushions and decided this was the perfect place to die. Irrik couldn’t be mad at me because I’d been poisoned.
Darkness swallowed me in its arms, and as it claimed me, I heard Irrik say, “You can’t be poisoned, Khosana.”
21
The sunlight woke me, and I stretched with a luxurious slowness as I took inventory. I was whole, my soreness gone thanks to my Phaetyn blood, and I was ravenously hungry. I sat up and looked down at the table for the silver tray with food. But it was on the other side of the room, by the couch.
The couch where I’d fallen asleep . . . and was no longer lying.
I gasped, sure I must still be in a nightmare because there was no way I’d willingly be in Lord Irrik’s bed. But I was. Fully dressed, thank the stars, but in his bed nonetheless.
The Drae was gone, and the panels were wide open, exposing a large expanse of sky from a short balcony. I strained my ears to listen, but couldn’t hear him in the washroom. My curiosity swelled, and I jumped from the bed and crossed to the terrace.
I could see all of Verald, the main roads snaking through the pale dust of the Harvest Zones. There were small patches of green here and there, dozens of them throughout the kingdom. As I stared, I thought of my mother and her green thumb, and I wondered if those were the places she visited to help. Had I moved dirt at each of these places? Had I sprinkled Mum’s special water mix over them? A mix I was fairly certain contained my bodily fluids?
A dark bird pulled into the air from one of the zones, but as the bird neared, it grew, and I realized Lord Irrik was on his way back to his tower. The Drae screamed and beat his wings, and I stood staring in awe. As much as I hated him, I had to grudgingly admit he was beautiful.
He flew closer until he was just beyond the ledge of the parapet, hovering. His breath flowed over me, and I reached out to touch him, caught in some kind of thrall. My fingertips grazed his armored cheek before he pulled away.
The massive Drae dove to my right into the room. The air shifted and the scent of leather, steel, and smoke blew by me. His powerful wings wrapped around his body. The air around his Drae form shimmered. He tucked, rolled, and stood in a fluid motion that spoke volumes of how many times he’d done it.
“You need to eat, Phaetyn.” He turned and indicated I follow him with a wave of his hand.
He stood to one side, and as I passed, I risked a glance to assess his mood. His eyes were hooded and dark, his face an impassive mask. A smirk pulled on one side of his lips. “Did you know you sleepwalk? You’re lucky it’s comfortable to sleep on the ground in my dragon form.”
I closed my eyes and grimaced. I’d sleepwalked to his bed? Mortifying. At least he’d left and slept on the floor, so he said.
“Did you know you shape-shift?” I asked with a quirk of my lips. “But don’t worry, you’re black, inside and out.”
I edged past him to the couch, where I ate the rest of a loaf of bread and a large wedge of cheese for breakfast. And grapes. An entire bunch. And a small bowl of figs.
Irrik disappeared into the washroom then reappeared as I finished my meal.
Wiping my sticky fingers and smiling, I stood and asked as sweetly as I could, “Are you ready for today, Lord Irrik?”
His only response was a narrowing of his eyes that sent my heart racing now that I’d seen his true form up close. His eyes shifted, and his advance became predatory. I scanned the room, but Irrik was positioned between me and the doorway leading to the stairs. The only escape open to me was off the balcony. So not going to happen. Why was he stalking me? I’d pissed him off plenty in the last day. This was nothing in comparison.
He ran toward me, but I was distracted by a pounding on the door. Before I could move, he’d hooked an arm around my waist, and in a heartbeat, Lord Irrik pulled me off the terrace and into the air. I tried to scream as we plunged to the ground, but the fear was trapped in my chest, and I couldn’t voice it against the rushing wind. Then Lord Irrik was gone and a black dragon held me wrapped in his powerful claws. My mind caught up enough a few seconds later to tell me nothing about being clutched in the digits of a beast was normal.
Don’t be afraid, the Drae said in my mind. We’re landing now.
I wasn’t afraid. Irrik was bound by oath to keep me safe, Drae and human Irrik. The fear that had been trapped in my chest morphed to shock and then . . . joy. Because there was something about the freedom of flight that made my heart light. I wasn’t afraid because all I could feel was elation.
We dipped toward the ground, and I closed my eyes, wishing we could stay airborne. But there was no way I was asking, so I bit my lips closed and enjoyed the last moments of flight into the fields.
I opened my eyes. “Why are we here?” This was where I’d worked yesterday.